Loneliness could be secretly damaging your heart—Here’s the shocking risk

Valvular heart disease occurs when one of the heart’s four valves stops functioning properly. According to the American Heart Association’s 2026 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics Report, valvular heart disease accounted for more than 440,000 deaths in the U.S. between 1999 and 2020, which is roughly the population of Oakland, California. Valvular heart disease represented 2.38% of total cardiovascular deaths in 1999-2000. Birth defects, as well as aging-related degeneration or other conditions, can cause heart valve problems. Degenerative valvular heart disease occurs when the heart valves gradually become stiff or leaky over time, making it harder for blood to flow properly through the heart.

A 2022 scientific statement from the American Heart Association about the impact of objective and perceived social isolation on heart and brain health noted that a lack of social connection is associated with an increased risk of premature death from all causes, as well as other adverse health outcomes.

Researchers say this is one of the first large-scale studies to comprehensively examine the relationships between loneliness, a lack of connection or engagement with others, and the risk of degenerative valvular heart disease.

“Degenerative valvular heart disease is becoming more common as populations age,” said study author Zhaowei Zhu, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor of cardiovascular medicine at The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University in Changsha, Hunan, China. “Our findings suggest that loneliness may be an independent and potentially modifiable risk factor for degenerative valvular heart disease.

“Identifying this new risk is an important step in potentially preventing valve disease, which can lead to heart failure, reduced quality of life and the need for valve replacement surgery,” Zhu said. “Heart valve disease diagnosed in people who reported ‘feeling lonely’ may reflect a biological vulnerability related to an individual’s feelings and emotional well-being, and also a growing societal burden.”

In this study, researchers reviewed existing information from about 463,000 adults enrolled in the UK Biobank. Participants completed questionnaires to assess loneliness and social isolation when they enrolled. Researchers followed participants for a median of nearly 14 years, using medical records to track new diagnoses of degenerative valvular heart disease.

“Our results suggest that addressing loneliness could help delay disease progression, postpone surgical interventions such as valve replacement, and ultimately reduce the long-term clinical and economic burden of valvular heart disease,” said study co-author Cheng Wei, M.D, a Ph.D. candidate in cardiovascular medicine at The Second Xiangya Hospital.

“These findings should highlight for patients and health care professionals that loneliness is not just an emotion; not something a person must get over or deal with on their own,” said American Heart Association volunteer expert Crystal Wiley Cené, M.D., M.P.H., FAHA, who led the writing group on perceived isolation and cardiovascular disease, and who was not involved in this study. “Loneliness, particularly chronic loneliness, is a stressor for the body that can damage people’s health. Patients and health care professionals need to understand the importance of talking about loneliness and social disconnectedness as a health risk, not a moral failing or sign of weakness.“

“The aging process can cause degeneration of heart values, and the risk of social isolation and loneliness also increase with age, so it is not inconceivable that loneliness is associated with heart valve disease,” said Cené, who is also a professor of medicine and public health at University of California, San Diego and chair elect of the Association’s Implementation Science Committee for the Council on Epidemiology and Prevention.

She also noted that loneliness is about the quality of relationships, not quantity. "You can be lonely even when you are surrounded by others, if those connections aren’t fulfilling or meaningful,” Cené said. “Loneliness represents a mismatch between the connections a person desires and what they have. This explains why our youngest generations are the most connected generations with lots of online ‘friends,’ yet also may be the loneliest. Connections that exist online only may not be the most fulfilling.”

Both Wei and Cené encourage people to discuss how they feel with health care professionals, and health care professionals should encourage patients to engage in meaningful forms of social connection.

Study limitations include that it was observational, meaning the research cannot prove that loneliness directly caused valvular heart disease; rather, the findings showed an association between the two. Another limitation is that loneliness was measured using self-reported questionnaires completed at a single point in time, which does not capture changes over time. In addition, most participants of the UK Biobank are white adults, which may limit how broadly the results apply to people in other racial or ethnic groups.

“Future studies are needed to confirm these findings in more diverse populations, understand the biological mechanisms linking loneliness and valve degeneration, and test whether interventions that reduce loneliness can lower the risk of valvular heart disease,” Wei said.